How Gov’s Anti-Racist Actions Create a More In-Touch Community

On February 24, the students at the Governor’s Academy shuffled into the auditorium for another convocation. This meeting was different, however. The stage looked like a living room. In one of the overstuffed armchairs sat a guest speaker. The speaker, Steven Rogers, is a senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School, an entrepreneur, and a civil rights activist. During the talk, he discussed the racial wealth gap and how the laws of the past still affect where people live and how much money they make today. Many of these laws date back to the 1800s when Booker T. Washington struggled to grant Black people financial equality. In an 1895 speech, Washington said, "The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth much more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera house." Despite his efforts, the government still restrained the Black community's money-making abilities with policies such as redlining, these actions account for the racial demographics of cities today. This conversation opened up a new perspective that many at Gov’s, a wealthy private school, had not considered. Without the perception of other viewpoints, our community will lack empathy and understanding for one another.

Throughout history, groups have used racism to oppress people who have not had the power to protect themselves. From the slave ships to the lynchings to segregation, racism has been rampant in America since its founding. Concerningly, however, schools have not taught this aspect of history in an effort to sanitize America’s history. Some schools have recognized their error and are beginning to teach the history of those oppressed in our nation. The Governor’s Academy is attempting to do just that. Gov’s has had a Dean of Multicultural Education for about a decade. The Dean of Multicultural Education organizes events and affinity groups and provides meaningful educational resources that teach the community about the history of racism in America.

Events like the Steven Rogers convocation are examples of the Governor’s Academy’s efforts to incorporate racial education into the curriculum. The history of racism in schools has been evolving since the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. During this time, the government segregated schools by race. In 1957, there was an attempt to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Melba Patillo Beals, one of the nine black students involved in this process, wrote about the resistance they faced during this attempt. Those against integration were so vocal that she "figured integration had been put off for that school year and maybe forever." This could not be further from the truth at Gov’s. Here, experts educate on the history of racism. During the civil rights era, having a Dean of Multicultural Education was far from a priority, and students were certainly not learning about racial injustices. Many teachers opposed desegregation and supported "separate but equal" ideologies. To prevent these racist ideas from entering the youngest generation, Gov’s must continue to teach students about race.

The activities and presentations created by the Dean of Multicultural Education at Gov’s aim to make our school feel like a welcoming place for all students. Racism originates in the idea of the "other," and these events push students to understand and empathize with people of different backgrounds. When, in a society, people cannot understand others around them, they will end up dividing into factions. When a group of people lacks a common objective, their group will become dysfunctional. The antiracist events held at Gov’s leave everyone on the same page regarding racism in society, and thus these events make us a more functional community.